Speed Remains An Issue
In Restoration of Trains

Updated

PORTLAND, Maine, Nov.17(AP) - A dispute over the speed at which passenger
trains can operate between Boston and Portland has threatened to further
delay the service, which has already been held up five years. State
transportation officials want the trains to go 79 mph so they will attract
enough customers to make the service worthwhile.

Guilford Transportation Industries, which owns much of the rail, wants the
trains to go slower because it says tracks the state wants installed along
the route can't handle high-speed trains. The matter is going to a federal
arbitrator by year's end. A ruling against the state could limit the trains
to 59 mph.

Trainriders Northeast, a rail advocacy group, has said trains must travel at
speeds approaching 80 mph to compete with cars and buses. Otherwise, the
service is doomed to failure, the group contends.

The state says 115-pound-per-yard rail would be sufficient for the route,
but Guilford wants to use 132-pound rail, which would add about $7 million to
the $50 million to $60 million project.

Amtrak, which is contracted to operate the rail service between Portland and
Boston, operates trains at 79 mph on other lines around the country using
115-pound rail. Guilford Executive Vice President David Fink said safety
standards now require the heavier rails. One of the lines using 115-pound
rails runs between Springfield, Mass., and New Haven, Conn.

Jonathan Carter, chairman of the board of the Northern New England Passenger
Rail Authority, said that if the trains are limited to 59 mph, the state
could reduce travel time by running express trains and skipping some of the
half dozen stations along the route.

``It's really very frustrating,'' said Carter. ``This has been going on so
long.'' Trains were supposed to start running in 1993. If construction of
the tracks begins in the spring, trains could start running in the fall of
2000 at the earliest.